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Posted August 7, 2012 12:04 am - Updated January 22, 2016 03:54 pm

Toward True Health: How to make a plan and stick with your lifestyle change

Question from a reader: “In my head, I know that changing my diet and lifestyle will change my need for drugs, and change how I feel. I did it for a while, slipped back and now I’m facing a bad prognosis.”

At the beginning of every week, I ask myself “What is it I want to achieve?”

We seek to change when we discover that we want something we don’t have. Or, we come to a point in which we are uncomfortable and want something better than the discomfort we are in. I’ve been there — you are there now!

This is the time to identify as clearly as possible, what is it you want, now? Take some time to ponder that question and write down all the answers that come to your mind. In order to change we must be able to see, know and understand that something is missing from our lives.

What gets us stuck where we are too many times is a belief that we are not in control of our destiny. Sometimes when friends and family are not on board with our goals, or put stumbling blocks in our path, or we think that someone else is running our program, we become complacent. No! You are the master of your fate. Only you can change your future for the better. Start by changing the way you think.

I remember telling my Mom the story of why things broke down one day at school, and turned out bad. It was a long story, and almost from the beginning, she was shaking her head. When I finished she asked, “When are you going to learn to think for yourself?” That became a recurring question and theme throughout my childhood, and is a question I still entertain.

When we change the way we think, we move to bigger and better and happier and more successful lives.

Here is the formula I find that works:

1. Ask the question, ‘What do I want?’

So, you’ve asked the question, and you’ve written all the answers. Select one, the most important, for now. Get the information you need, and put it to work to get where you want to be. It’s hard if you say it’s hard, just as, if you say you can’t, you can’t. We invite hardship and difficulty into existence every time we speak negative words into our lives or believe negative thoughts. It’s not hard to change if you know what you want and believe it is within your power to achieve. Make the decision to have what you want and need, better health and a good outcome. And stick to it, no matter what.

2. Plan for the outcome you want

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

We get comfortable doing the same things over and over. Life goes along just fine, for a while. Then we get to a turn, a bump, a crossroad, and everything changes. What will you do? Turn around and go back? You are going to be thrown out of your comfort zone so many times. You must always have a plan and a contingency plan so that you can regroup quickly.

Go back to the plan that worked before. Set up your support group. Make the dietary and lifestyle changes and stay on course. Do what you know is right for the outcome you want.

This is a great time to start a journal, if you have not. It will keep you honest and will be the guardian of your successes, secrets and failures. Your failures will keep you on track.

3. Jump in

Step out on that limb and go for it. Learn what you need to learn. If you are down in some area go to someone with more information than you have, do the research and learn how to get stronger in that area. And keep learning and keep doing until you rise up to where you want and need to be. Then create new habits that support that level of existence you want to enjoy. Habits are created by doing the same thing, the same way, over and over. Good habits supports good results.

Aristotle said: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

4. Focus on you

At the beginning of each week I decide what I’ll focus on, and in my office (war room) I write on paper — on the walls — they answer that question and keeps me focused on my tasks.

Focus on your plan and how it is going to benefit you. What benefits you and improves your life and blesses you, improves and benefits and blesses everyone who is a part of your life and those whose paths you’ll cross.

If you are not feeling supported by your loved ones, put some distance between you and them, until you are stronger and become your own lover. Garner support from others who are going your way or who can shine a light on the way for you.

Don’t be reluctant to leave your family, friends, colleagues and cohorts behind — the best thing you can do for them is to be a living example of how to do better, be better and enjoy a better quality of life. They will benefit with you.

5. Believe you can

“If you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.”

Change is difficult only when we delay the process, pretending we don’t need to change. That someone else will do it for us, or that it is not within our power to change.

Change is uncomfortable because it causes us to move, think and work differently, as we are displaced from our comfort zone — displaced from our old habits, many times into uncharted waters, into fear and uncertainty, and uprooted from a false sense of security.

Embrace change. Everything is changing, and we will change as well. Change is good for us, and can lead to exciting and happy outcomes. Changes are the adventures in life.

Resisting change, not having a plan and not thinking for ourselves can only lead to sadness and destruction.

You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your soul, and you will win.

Because health is a choice!

Carolyn Guilford is a nutritionist, consultant, health and wellness advocate, workshop organizer and the author of “Reverse The Curse — Leaving Diabetes Behind.” She holds monthly forums at the Bull Street Library on a variety of health concerns, which are free and open to all. She can be contacted via carolyn@healthrestoration101.com; Health Restoration Consulting, P.O. Box 2814, Savannah, GA 31402; or 912-236-8987.